Leutnant Ernst Hess was a World War I flying ace

Flying ace

A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...

 credited with 17 confirmed and four unconfirmed aerial victories.

He scored a victory for KEK Douai on 5 January 1916 in conjunction with Oswald Boelcke

Oswald Boelcke

Oswald Boelcke was a German flying ace of the First World War and one of the most influential patrol leaders and tacticians of the early years of air combat. Boelcke is considered the father of the German fighter air force, as well as the "Father of Air Fighting Tactics"; he was the first to...

, and another for Fokkerstaffel C on 22 June 1916, but did not hit his stride until assigned to Royal Wurttemburg Jagdstaffel 28. In July, August, and September 1917, he reeled off a dozen wins for them. He then transferred to Royal Prussian Jasta 19 and won three times for them before being killed in action by a French Nieuport

Nieuport

Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars.-Beginnings:...

 two days before Christmas, 1917.

Reference

• van Wyngarden, G (2006). Early German Aces of World War I, Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-841-76997-5